Norman Gitzen with The Sound of Miami.Art: Award-winning Lake Worth sculptor and master builder Norman Gitzen has been chosen to participate in Miami GuitarTown, a public arts project featuring 10-foot-tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model guitars that are painted by local and national artists. The enormous guitars will be showcased throughout Miami in parks, landmarks and sponsored locations, and will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, the Dade Community Foundation and Miami Children’s Hospital.
A VIP reception at 7 p.m. Saturday will kick off the Miami GuitarTown Auction Gala at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, with the live auction beginning at 8:30 p.m. Gitzen’s guitar, titled The Sound of Miami, was inspired by the music of Gloria Estefan and South Florida’s Cuban-American population, which Gitzen says “gives Miami that hot, zesty attitude…My guitar is a tribute to all those Cuban-Americans who are missing their beautiful homeland that they were forced to flee.” For more information, call 305-573-3523. — K. Deits
Lala, by Amanda Valdes.Opening tonight at the Mos’Art Theatre in Lake Park is Reel Art, billed as a collection of cinema-inspired contemporary art. Curated by Brigid Howard (who will also be exhibiting her paintings with cross-stitch and embroidery), it will showcase eight local artists’ views on the world of film. The exhibition includes works by Jacksonville photographer Ross Howard, Boynton Beach photographer Brent del Rosario, and South Florida artists Javier Sanchez and Amanda Valdes.
The Wicked and the Weak, by Talya Lerman.From Lake Worth are painter Sandy Lerman, mixed-media artist Talya Lerman and installation artist Sue Stevens. The Manhattan Short Film Festival will also open tonight at Mos’Art, an independent cinema located at 700 Park Avenue. For more information, call (561) 337-6763. –– K. Deits
Haagsche Hofmuzieck.Music: [This item has been updated; an earlier version had the wrong date and time for the Delray concert.] The music of the Baroque will be on the program tonight at Palm Beach Atlantic University and on Saturday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, when the young quartet known as Haagsche Hofmuzieck presents two concerts of works of composers from J.S. Bach to Handel, Telemann, Biber and Vivaldi. Founded in the Netherlands as a trio, Haagsche Hofmuzieck is touring with a guest violinist and has recently released a disc of flute sonatas by Bach, Handel and Telemann on its own label. Tonight’s concert at the DeSantis Chapel on the PBAU campus begins at 7:30 and is free admission; Saturday’s concert at St. Paul’s starts at 7 p.m. and costs $15-$18. It’s also the first program in the church’s Delray Baroque mini-festival, which will feature three more concerts. For more information, call PBAU at 803-2970, or St. Paul’s at 278-6003. — G. Stepanich
Duo Gastesi-Bezerra.Also at PBAU this weekend is the school’s Hispanic Heritage Festival, which will feature concerts Sunday by Duo Gastesi-Bezerra and on Monday by violinist Alfonzo Lopez. Brazilian-born Marcio Bezerra and his Spanish-born wife, Estibaliz Gastesi, are familiar faces on the local music and educational scene, and as performers they tirelessly seek out new music for two pianos. Their program at 3 p.m. Sunday (free admission) features music by Xavier Montsalvatge, Alba Rosa Vietor, Carme Fernandez-Vidal, Dinah Menezes, Edino Krieger, Piazzolla, and PBAU’s own Marlene Woodward-Cooper. The concert at Persson Hall will also feature poetry readings by Marina Sanchez, Lenin Rodas and Alma Gallego.
On Monday, the Venezuelan-born Lopez, accompanied by his countrywoman Michelle Tabor, will play music by Granados, Albeniz, Ginastera, Manuel Ponce, and Andres Sas, as well as another piece by Woodward-Cooper and a work by Lopez himself. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. in Persson Hall and also is free admission. For more information, call 803-2970. –– G. Stepanich